Laptop - HDD to SSD

[kanine]

Hi All,

I am planning to get as new laptop and switch the HDD to SSD. Will the new SSD work on every laptop??

Example;
Acer Timeline 3830T with OCZ Vertex 2

What do I need to check in order to make sure SSD will work on the new laptop I am going to purchase?
Thanks.

 

[Pyree]

It should work fine. I cannot find the height of the HDD use in the laptop and I assume the laptop use a 9.5mm height drive. But just make sure, what is the model of HDD?

 

[mcnumpty23]

i recently tried to fit an intel x25-m ssd to my acer timeline x 5820t only to find it wouldnt go in far enough to properly connect due to a thick rubber pad stuck to the motherboard just below the sata connection so had to trim 3mm off the rubber with a stanley blade and i believe on some lenovo model laptops theres a little bit of plastic you have to remove when fitting some ssd drives

so its not 100% guaranteed even if the drive is the right thickness that it will just pop in

 

[Pyree]

i recently tried to fit an intel x25-m ssd to my acer timeline x 5820t only to find it wouldnt go in far enough to properly connect due to a thick rubber pad stuck to the motherboard just below the sata connection so had to trim 3mm off the rubber with a stanley blade and i believe on some lenovo model laptops theres a little bit of plastic you have to remove when fitting some ssd drives

so its not 100% guaranteed even if the drive is the right thickness that it will just pop in

What an idea to cut off the rubber. Ghetto fix!

mcnumpty23, you might have got yourself the 9.5mm version of the x-25m and that will explain the 3mm you have to cut off.

 

[mcnumpty23]

brand new £500 laptop and you need to take a stanley blade to it!--hope i never need to send it back under warranty for repair--too stubborn for my own good sometimes

no it wasnt the drive thickness that was the problem--the bit of rubber was at the end of the drive underneath the sata connector--the shape of the drive at the end it connected to the motherboard sata connector was the problem

 

[Pyree]

Oh. Ok, so by design, the laptop makes it difficult for people to swap HDD. Acer is being a total prick for do that. One more piece of info for me. I will remember this in case someone have the same question. Thanks.

 

[kanine]

I think the original HDD is 500GB WD Scorpio blue

 

[kanine]

I think the original HDD is 500GB WD Scorpio blue

 

[Pyree]

sata 2.5 inch 9.5mm ssd will fit. But like mcnumpty23 said, there could be a slight difficulty.

 

[aceratl]

did it work? Because I bought a samsung ssd and it wont connect in my 5820 t and acer support was useless.

 

[mcnumpty23]

did it work? Because I bought a samsung ssd and it wont connect in my 5820 t and acer support was useless.

well since thats the same laptop i have you probably have the same problem--get the stanley blade out 😀

 

[aceratl]

well since thats the same laptop i have you probably have the same problem--get the stanley blade out 😀

I see cloth tape in there and a little piece of black foam rubber on the left and right side of the connector. So remove that foam rubber? How important is that foam rubber ?

 

[mcnumpty23]

in mine the foam rubber goes under the sata connector as well as at the side--i had to angle the blade in

i only removed about 3mm of it and my laptops still going strong--i would imagine the foam rubber is only a

support so trimming the edge made no difference

i did it very gently and slowly--i didnt try to cut through it in one cut just kept gently scoring it very carefully

doing the side bits only may work but it was easier to make one continuous cut

 

[aceratl]

I did it. it still doesnt plug in flush like the old hd did. I got im screwed since I cant return it

 

[aceratl]

now just for kicks I tried to it in my acer one and it fits perfect of course

 

[mcnumpty23]

how far away from connecting is it?

 

[aceratl]

here is the space without a hd

here is with the samsung in and it wont go further in

 

[mcnumpty23]

looks like you are still a fair bit away

can you get any more of the rubber foam out?

you wouldnt think it would be such a pain in the ass to fit an ssd in a laptop

can say though once i got it in it was worth the hassle--made it so much faster

 

[aceratl]

I put the foam back after I tried. I removed all the foam and i could push it all the way in, the minute I let go it went to where you see in the picture. Now on my netbook book acer one it fits like it came with it. lol

 

[mcnumpty23]

must be something there pushing it back out

if you look at the end of both drives where the connectors are whats the difference

 

[aceratl]

is there a regular hd you would recommend thats faster than the 5400 rpm in it now?

 

[aceratl]

comparing the two

 

[aceratl]

the samsung doesnt have as much room.

 

[mcnumpty23]

not a regular one

but a hybrid one maybe--the Seagate Momentus XT is part flash memory and part 7200rpm drive

gives more speed than a normal drive but you can still get 500gb drive for less than a 100gb ssd--not as fast as

the ssd but pretty quick

did look at them but went for the ssd instead as speed was more important to me than storage space

 

[aceratl]

yeah I wanted speed and less heat than storage space.